All these years, Rehab has been deemed as Amy Winehouse's "signature song." It was released as the lead single from her second and final album, Back to Black. To this day, fans and critics consider the album as Amy's legacy-defining work given its tracks that highlight the late singer's turbulent personal life. But it's Rehab that is closely associated with the singer's death.
At the age of 27, Amy died of alcohol poisoning but was reportedly drug-free at that time. However, some fans still believe that the song's narrative—Amy's refusal to go to rehab—led to her tragic fate. The song's producer, Mark Ronson remembers the story behind Rehab differently.
The Day Amy Winehouse And Mark Ronson Met
During Mark Ronson's appearance on The Howard Stern Show in 2019, he shared how he ended up working on the Grammy-winning track with Amy Winehouse. Someone from Amy's record label in England had reached out to Mark, asking if he wanted to work with her. He said yes and Amy eventually came to Mark's studio in New York where she wrote Rehab on the same day.
The two were musical soulmates. Mark has always credited Amy for putting him on the map even when she once misunderstood his statements about it. "Ronson you're dead to me," Amy tweeted. "One album I write an you take half the credit? Make a career out of it? Don't think so BRUV." Mark told BBC Breakfast that he was confused about the singer's tweet and that he'd have to discuss the matter with her in private.
They soon patched things up with Amy even tweeting, "Ronson I love you," followed by some cryptic reason for her outburst. One of the interesting things about Amy Winehouse is that she doesn't really like collaborating. So the tweet must have been just a symptom of that.
Mark Thought Amy's Rants Were Lyric-Worthy
On the day Amy and Mark met, they went to Soho to get Amy's boyfriend a shirt for his birthday. While they were walking, Amy started talking to Mark about her past. "You know I used to be kind of f***ed up," Mark recalled her saying.
"There was this time when I was like drinking a lot, and my family and my manager, these people came over to my house. Then they tried to make me go to rehab, and I was like no, no, no." Mark also remembered Amy doing the talk-to-the-hand gesture as she said the last part.
"You know I hate writing songs around a gimmick," He then told her. "But there's something catchy about what you just said. You want to just go back to the studio and like maybe try to turn that into a song?" Mark shared that Amy was always so fast in writing songs that in just thirty minutes, she already had the lyrics and the music ready.
The Rhythm Was Based On Amy's Manner Of Speaking
Originally, the song had a slow blues melody. It was Mark who thought they should speed it up a little, giving us the catchy Rehab that we know. But what really inspired his idea was Amy's manner of saying "no, no, no" during her rant. He said it had a hooky tone that Amy did as a joke. The Valerie singer didn't even know that she kinda sang that line during her rant.
How amazing is that? Even Amy Winehouse's rants were musical. No wonder many singers like Lady Gaga look up to her to this day. Speaking of Lady Gaga, Amy and her would have made an awesome collaboration if she were still alive today. Maybe something jazzy, like their separate collaborations with Tony Bennett.